The Children's Channel
' The Children's Channel', also known as TCC, was a British television station in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Benelux nations (with Dutch voiceover) and Scandinavia, which was owned by Flextech. It began broadcasting on 1 September 1984. The Children's Channel is the first television channel to air Cartoonverse-branded television series internationally. History Early years The Children's Channel launched in 1984, almost exclusively to cable households owing to the low proliferation of domestic satellite dishes in the UK and Europe at the time, and originally operated by Starstream who were backed by British Telecom, DC Thomson, Thames Television and Thorn EMI. The channel shared its slot with The Entertainment Network, before sharing with Mirrorvision. In 1986, it started broadcasting on satellite from 0500 for 10 hours. In January 1987, Central Independent Television acquired a 22% stake in Starstream, within days of buying FilmFair, allowing the channel to add new programming including Paddington Bear.NEWS IN BRIEFThe Guardian (1959-2003); 6 Jan 1987; In March 1989, the channel started airing free-to-air on Astra 1A (owned by SES S.A. at the time, now a communications satellite operator), airing between 05:00 and 10:00 on weekdays and between 05:00 and 12:00 on weekends, time-sharing with Lifestyle. Following the launch of the Astra 1B-satellite in 1991, the channel expanded to broadcast until 5pm each day, time-sharing with JSTV. In 1990, Flextech acquired its first stake in the company,Guardian 18 December 1999 P28 "INTERVIEW Adam Singler and Tony Illsley" By David Teather beating United Artists Cable International to gain a stake. Within a year, United bought its own stake in The Children's Channel and won the management contract to run it. In autumn of 1993, Flextech held talks with Tele-Communications (TCI) and acquired TCI's European programming business in exchange for shares, giving TCI a 50%-60% stake in the enlarged Flextech group. The deal was completed which resulted in Flextech increasing its stake from 50.1% to 75%. Change of ownership In 1992, the channel launched an evening block showing programming of greater interest to older children and teenagers. The segment, called simply TCC, aired from 5pm to 7pm, and featured a number of home-produced programmes, such as CDQ ("compact disc quiz") and TVFM, as well as US imports including Saved By The Bell. During the day, the channel, by then still branded as The Children's Channel, continued targeting younger children, and a large amount of its programming output was still archive animated series from the 1980s. As time went on, the TCC block extended its hours, initially starting half an hour earlier at 4.30pm, until the focus on teen programmes eventually became more prominent across the whole channel, which became known as TCC all day long. In 1993, it cut back its air hours to 06:00-17:00, allowing newly launched sister channel Family Channel to share its channel space with both channels now a subscription service via the Sky Multichannels package. Two years later, the channel introduced programmes for toddlers and preschoolers called Tiny TCC (see below). By June 1995, Flextech completed its acquisition of The Children's Channel when it acquired the remaining 25.1% stake in Starstream, (parent firm of TCC, from DC Thomson, Thames Television and Richard Wolfe) for £15m. US firms invest £92m in FlextechMay, Tony The Guardian (1959-2003); 12 May 1995; During the summer of 1996, Flextech were in talks with Fox/News Corp to sell of a 50% stake in the channel; unfortunately, extremely lengthy negotiations made it impossible to secure a deal. Flextech tried to undertake negotiations to secure a different form of investment in The Children's Channel, but decided to refocus on the teen and youth markets instead. In turn, on 3 February 1997, all the programmes targeting older children (mainly teenagers) which The Children's Channel was by then airing were split off into their own separate television channel called Trouble with TCC reverted to the original name of The Children's Channel and continuing to screen programmes for younger children, running side by side with Trouble for nearly a year, before eventually closing down British and Irish operations both unexpectedly and silently on 3 April 1998 at 17:00 for unknown reasons. Upon the closure of TCC UK, the cable operator Cable & Wireless carried the TCC Nordic feed for a few months due to the company’s anger at the closure of TCC at such short notice, while Trouble started targeting teenagers and young adults, thus fully replacing The Children's Channel after the latter closed down. However, due to a pre-agreed contract signed some years before to air the channel in Scandinavia until October 2000, Flextech created a commercial-free version of TCC known as TCC Nordic to fulfil this requirement to air until October 2000 as arranged before finally ceasing transmission. As this service was only fulfilling a contractual requirement, it was totally automated and showed exactly the same four weeks of programming (including show trailers) on a constant loop. The website stayed running until late 2005. Tiny TCC/Living In 1995, The Children's Channel introduced a strand for toddlers and preschoolers called Tiny TCC, which aired every morning from 6am until 9am. This block was then transferred over to UK Living on 3 February 1997 and renamed Tiny Living with its airtimes being changed to 7:00-9:00 on weekdays, and 7:00-10:00 during the weekend. Following The Children's Channel's unexpected closedown of British and Irish operations on 3 April 1998 and full replacement by then-timeshared channel Trouble the next day, the strand was finally withdrawn in 2006. The mascot for the channel was a huge cuddly Wigasaurus called Tiny. He had his own show called Tiny and Crew! in which he learned new things about life. Tiny had a fixed age of just 5 years in the show. He could speak no English and was joined by Dog, who loved nothing more than bones and playing hide and seek and Arabella, a frog who would sometimes come across a little bossy but loved to try new things. The buddets were flowers who were known for their singing. Tiny was later joined by presenters Sarah Davison and Sophie Aldred, then-in 1999-a lifelike doll named Tammy (Tam). The last series was created two years later. Programmes In its day, TCC created some original programming. Connect 4 and The Super Mario Challenge were popular tea-time quiz shows. Some other 'in-between' show segments included Link Anchorman, featuring Chuck the Chimp and Hopper the Penguin. All of the puppets were created and performed by Hands Up Puppets, primarily Marcus Clarke and Helena Smee. Other TV talent made an appearance or got an early break working on these series, including Konnie Huq, then awaiting news of her university place. Some of today's TV producers also got valuable early TV introducing experience on these series including Lisa Opie, Tim Lowe, Karen Ward and Mike Crosby. A live action quiz programme, Around the World in 80 Seconds, was produced for the channel in 1993-4. Hosted by Timmy Mallett as Captain Everything, schoolchildren participated in a quiz based on geography and general knowledge of particular countries, before "replaying" famous scenarios from history of their chosen country. The top team received a prize of a four-day trip to the then-new Euro Disney. During school holidays, Ratkan aired 07:00-12:00, with It's Droibee Time off air. Jack in the Box/Tiny TCC * Babar * Barney & Friends * The Babaloos * Bump * Bod * Button Moon * Care Bears * Charlie Brown Specials * Chorlton and the Wheelies * Christopher Crocodile * Clangers * Cockleshell Bay * Creepy Crawlers * Crystal Tipps and Alistair * Dappledown Farm * Edward and Friends * The Fruitties * The Forgotten Toys * The Flumps * Gran * Henry's Cat * The Herbs * James the Cat * Johnson and Friends * Kitty Cats * The Little Green Man * Morph * Mr Benn * Mr. Men * Noddy * Old Bear Stories * Ovide and the Gang * Papa Beaver's Storytime * Philbert Frog * Phillips * Pob's Programme * Potsworth & Co. * Professor Bubble * Professor Iris * Puppydog Tales * The Puzzle Place * Rosie and Jim * The Shoe People * Special Sports * Stoppit and Tidyup * Strawberry Shortcake * Topsy and Tim * Tots TV * The Wind in the Willows * The Wombles A''' * The Adventures of Black Beauty * The Amazing Adventures of Morph * Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog * The Adventures of Crumbcake * The Adventures of Spot * The Adventures of T-Rex * Astro Farm * Around the World in 80 Seconds * Art Attack '''B * The Baby-Sitters Club * BattleTech: The Animated Series * Bad Level 10 * Bananaman * Beakman's World * The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show * Boogies Diner * Beverly Hills Teens * The Big Dish * Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures * Blast * Blinky Bill * Blue, Child of the Earth * The Blunders * Bobobobs * The Bots Master * Boy Dominic * Bravestarr * Bojan the Bear * Bucky O'Hare * By Way of the Stars * Byker Grove * The Blunders * Bright Sparks * Budgie the Little Helicopter C''' * C.O.P.S. * Cadillacs and Dinosaurs * California Dreams * California Raisins * Captain N: The Game Master * Cartoon Classics * ''The Castle of Adventure'The Times'' listings, 29 September-17 November 1993 and subsequent dates * Cave Party * The Chestnut SoldierThe Times listings, 3–24 January 1994 and 14 August-4 September 1994 * Clémentine * The Clifton House Mystery * Clutz * Cool Cartoons * Cool McCool * The Colours Of World * Cococinel * Casper and Friends * Connect 4 * Chicken Minute * Count Duckula * Crack The Code * CurioCity * Cybernet D''' * Danger Mouse * Defenders of the Earth * Degrassi Junior High * Dennis the Menace * Denver, the Last Dinosaur * Derrou * Derrou Juniors * Derrou Tales * Dish of the Day * Diplodos * Dog City * The Dreamstone * Dino Babies * Dino-Riders * Discovering Stories * Dungeons and Dragons * Dr. Snuggles * Dynamo Duck '''E * Earthworks * Earthworm Jim * Eek! The Cat * Emlyn's MoonThe Times listings, 29 November-27 December 1993 and 10 July-7 August 1994 * Ernest the Vampire * Escape from Jupiter F''' * Fame * Fifteen * The Finder * The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor * ''The Flockton Flyer'The Guardian'' listings, 17 July 1989-29 January 1990 * Floradora G''' * Galaxy High * Garfield and Friends * The Get Along Gang * Gigantor * The Girl From Tomorrow / Tomorrow's End * Gravedale High * The Greedysaurus Gang * The Guys Next Door '''H * Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left * Hang Time * Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child * The Happy Prince * Heartbreak High * Heathcliff * He-Man and the Masters of the Universe * Henry's Cat * Hotshots * How Things Work I''' * Inspector Gadget: (Original series) * Interbang * Into the Labyrinth * Iznogoud '''J * Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors * Jem K''' * King Koopa's Kool Kartoons * Kissyfur '''L * The Legend of Prince Valiant * The Littles * Little Brrm * Lotta * Ludwig M''' * M.A.S.K. * Madison * Magic Corner * Make Music Fun * Mr. Bogus * Manu * The Marvel Superheroes * The Mysterious Cities of Gold * Madeline * Michael Valiant * Molly * ''Mr Majeika'The Times'' listings, 11 July-28 November 1993 N''' * The New Adventures of Gigantor * The New Adventures of He-Man * The New Archies '''O * Ocean Odyssey * Okavango * Once Upon a Time... Space * Oscar's Orchestra P''' * Pinwheel * Paddington Bear * Picture Pages * Pingu * The Pink Panther * Pugwall * Pugwall's Summer * Puyo Puyo '''Q * Quick & Flupke R''' * Rub-a-Dub-Dub * Rainbow Brite * Rambo: The Force of Freedom * Ready or Not * The Real Ghostbusters * Ring Raiders * Road to Avonlea * Rocky Hollow * Robinson Sucroe * Robotech * Round the Bend * Round the Twist * Roustabout * Rude Dog and the Dweebs * Runaway Bay '''S * Save the Day * Saved by the Bell * See How They Grow * Sesame Street * Stories Without Words * Seven Little Australians * Shadow of the Stone * Shadows * Sharky and George * She-Ra: Princess of Power * Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings * Skeleton Warriors * Sonic the Hedgehog * The Smoggies * The Snow SpiderThe Times listings, 1–22 November 1993 and 12 June-3 July 1994 * Spirou * Street Sharks * Stunt Dawgs * The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! * The Super Mario Challenge * Super Mario World * Superted * Swamp Thing * Swans Crossing * Sylvanian Families T''' * Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (UK title) * Teen Wolf * Telebugs * The Telecat Show * Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends * The Tick * Tiny and Crew * Towser * Toxic Crusaders * The Transformers * The Trap Door * The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat '''U * Ulysses 31 * Under the Mountain * Under the Umbrella Tree V''' * Victor & Maria * Voltron: Defender of the Universe '''W * What-a-Mess * Where's Wally? * Widget * Wil Cwac Cwac * The Winners * Wisdom of the Gnomes * The Witches and the Grinnygog * Worzel Gummidge * Worzel Gummidge Down Under * Wowser * Wuzzles Y''' * You Can't Do That on Television '''Z * Zazoo U References External links *The Children's Channel at TV Ark *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050305031924/http://www.tcc.co.uk/ TCC.co.uk from Web Archive] Category:British television networks Category:Irish television networks Category:Nordic television networks Category:Children's television networks